The Unfortunate Situation
by Sarim01
Summary: Commander Sheppard had always seemed invincible. Despite everything the world had thrown at her, she not only survived but thrived. The sudden and violent attack from one ship ended all of that in mere minutes. Just how could her crew deal with that sudden loss and how could she deal with her sudden revival two years later?/Fem Shep x Garrus /starts in ME2
1. Chapter 1: Falling

**Title: **The Unfortunate Situation

**Rating:** M- _for safety_ (suggested violence, adult themes, and occasional language)

**Characters:** FemShepardxGarrus

**Summary/Warning: **Story starts as the beginning of Mass Effect 2 so needless to say if you have not played the Mass Effect series, spoilers will ensue. Most of this story will be told from moments between missions instead of fully re-doing all of Mass Effect 2 and possibly 3 (although if I do go that far their might be _some_ changes at the end of Mass Effect 3's story line...just saying)

**Disclaimer:** As always, I do not own Mass Effect or any of it's characters.

**Author's Note**: So I'm back in the saddle for another fan fic that I'm excited about. I've slightly been going Mass Effect crazy for the past 3 weeks despite the fact that I have already played series many times over. While I love almost all of the crew from ME2, nothing can compare to my utter fun with Garrus as a romance option. Needless to say my mind started wandering after the third play through and thus this fan fic was started. If people enjoy it I might keep going and take it all the way through ME3, so please feel free to leave a review/PM me to ask any questions or let me know what you think.

Side note: I don't know if I'm just in a massive mood to write sci-fi but I'm also thinking about tweaking my old Star Trek fan fic and continuing it.

Any ways, enjoy!

* * *

So this is how it goes. Funny out of everything that Commander Shepard had gone through she really did not call on dying by suffocation. At least the view was great. You have to stay positive while your body was being slowly pulled into the planet's atmosphere. Shepard's green eyes glanced to her right as she watched the escape pods soar out of the enemy ship's weapons range. It was worth it, a life full of suffering, pain, and constant fear was finally ending but she could not help but think that it was all worth it. Her crew was in those pods, Joker being the last one, the one she had gone back for and had ejected herself before she got blasted into space. Every last one of them she would give her life for and now she was doing it. A smile lifted the corners of her lips before they contorted in pain as the last of her oxygen finally seeped out of her suit. A scream wrenched through her mind as her lungs shredded under the pressure. The pain was unbearable but it didn't last long. Shepard's body caught in the atmosphere and the red streak that crossed Alchera's sky that day was not a rock but the first human Spectre, Commander Jane Shepard.

* * *

This couldn't be real. The large congregation of people could not all be here to bury the invincible Commander Shepard. The red eyed Kaiden and the sniffling Tali was just a bad joke. Garrus stood with the rest of the surviving crew of the Normandy but he wanted to be anywhere but there. Shepard had always been larger than life. He had gone through missions with her that were so impossible that no one should have survived much less complete the mission. But she always did. Hell they all should have died when they went through the Conduit to try and save the Citadel. How in the world could she just disappear from his life like this? He just kept on expecting her to walk up behind him and ask "What's with all the fuss? You know they couldn't keep me down for long."

But she was dead, Joker's broken arm and the breath still moving through his lungs was the proof of her last acts. The empty casket however made it hard to believe the truth. They had nothing of her body. She had been ejected into space and caught in the atmosphere of Alchera. All remains were thought to have been incinerated from re-entry. All the funeral had was an empty casket and a holo of her face. Anderson was giving his speech and Garrus felt the horrible weight of truth finally settle in the pit of his stomach. Anger was filling him, the pain had drifted off to the realm of fury. How could she leave him like this? How many times had he pulled her human butt from danger? How could one ship bring down the best ship of the Alliance? And how in the hell had **_he_** not been on that ship?

Garrus had left the Normandy after they had saved the Citadel to enter into Spectre training. It had been what Shepard had inspired him to do. He had not wanted to leave the Normandy, it had become like a home to him but she had insisted. After the year they had spent together she had become a friend to him, more than a friend. She was almost family in his eyes. He had known she felt the same, it was never said aloud but then again their friendship hadn't needed the spoken words. She had wanted the best for him and while there had been sadness in her eyes when he left, there had also been pride. They kept in contact even when he was off the Normandy but now…now she was….

Garrus buried his head in his hand, trying to compose himself. A hand rested on his shoulder but a growl unconsciously rumbled in his chest. He didn't want anyone. He didn't want comfort or pity. Turning on his heel he walked out of the funeral. His fury and pain was building and he was soon going to lose it. There was no way he was going to disrespect her by destroying all the furniture at her funeral. Eyes were on him as he left but he did not care. His strong strides quickly had him out on the street and before he knew it he was back in his apartment.

Just standing there he felt the emptiness fill up everything he was. His eyes found his terminal where her last transmission still lit up the screen. He would never see her again, never hear her sarcastic taunts across the battlefield. The Commander was dead and as the next following days would demonstrate so was everything she had worked for. All her warnings of the Reapers had been discarded and no matter how much Garrus tried to stop it, all of the preparations and support for stopping the Reapers had been lost. The fury in him just grew until he felt it fracture something in him. How dare they disrespect her memory. How dare they warp her accusations as an over-tiered Spector psychosis that saw conspiracies everywhere. When he blew up at the Council and cursed them out he didn't need them to fire him, he quit. Nothing stopped him as he left the Citadel, not even Anderson who had seen Garrus' slow descent into madness could stop him. Garrus booked the next transport out of there. What he couldn't do on the Citadel he would do on Omega. No red tape or political bullshit would stop him this time. On Omega he would do as he wanted to put this place together and possibly himself.


	2. Chapter 2: No one said revival was easy

**Disclaimer:** As always, I do not own Mass Effect or any of it's characters.

**Author's Note**: So going to go ahead and post up another chapter tonight since the first one was fairly short. Gotta get the story started at least ;)

* * *

The darkness was not as void as she expected it to be, nor was it quiet. In fact it was noisy. Man the afterlife sure was loud and painful. Her head felt like a freight train had run over it twenty times over and then threw it in a vice.

"Shepard -"

The voice yelled at her over the noise and she immediately decided she didn't like the voice. It stabbed her brain like a knife and just doubled the pain. "Man whatever I did to go to hell wasn't worth it." She thought to herself as she forced her eyes open. White light flashed in her vision and it made her squint and wince.

"Wake up Commander."

Yep, she defiantly hated the voice. Trying to get up she winced again not knowing whether to grab her head or her side. All her muscles protested to her movement. She tried to glance around the room again but found that all she could see was blurs of color.

"Shepard , do you hear me? Get out of bed now- this facility is under attack."

As the blurs of color finally came to focus Shepard recognized the familiar sight of gun blasts outside of the window. "What the hell?" She couldn't help but exclaim as an explosion went off somewhere nearby.

"There's a pistol in the locker on the other side of the room. Hurry!"

Shepard slug her legs over the bed she had been laying in. Just what in the world was going on? As far as she knew she had been dead. What was this? Her mind kept scrambling as she moved to the locker and put on the spare armor. It wasn't like her usual armor but she wasn't about to complain with how much fire she heard outside her door. She racked her mind to see if she could remember anything else. The voice sounded familiar.

Her hand froze above the pistol as she realized it. She had woken before. A woman and a man were arguing about her. They had talked about her as if she was a test subject. When the woman had leaned over her to check Sheppard's status there had been no kindness or comfort in those eyes, just cold calculations.

Picking up the pistol she found it empty with no thermal clip to be seen. "This pistol doesn't have a thermal clip." She told the voice.

"It's a med bay. We'll get you a clip from.. damn it! Those canisters are about to blow! Get into cover now!"

The sarcastic reply didn't help Shepard dislike for the woman and since she just woke from the dead with a splitting headache and a body that felt ready to tear apart at any moment, she wasn't in the mood. "Alright sunshine, when we meet up we'll have to talk about your bedside manner." Shepard murmured to herself as she ducked under cover. The woman's "what?" was drowned out by the canister's explosion and Shepard didn't wait a beat as she geared up for battle and stormed out of the med bay to find a clip.

"I can't believe I am bloody stuck with Cerberus." She thought to herself for the thousandth time. It was almost as bad as being told she had been dead for two years. Her eye twitched at that thought. Better push that back under the file 'don't ever explore more or you will go crazy.' The shuttle shivered under her as it made its way to her new ship. Currently she was accompanied by two Cerberus operatives, Miranda and Jacob. Miranda was a human biotic that had headed up the Lazarus Project which had brought Shepard back from the dead. Jacob was an ex-Alliance soldier who seemed to be directly under Miranda. While it wasn't her practice to judge people before she got to know them, she had a dark history with Cerberus that was hard to shake. Jacob seemed to be alright in her book but Ms. Sunshine with a superiority complex seemed to still be getting Shepard's ire from her rude awakening. The only one she cared about on this shuttle was the man sitting next to her, one she didn't think she'd see with a Cerberus emblem on his shoulder, Joker.

Once Shepard had walked out of the conversation with the Illusive Man, something she was still peeved about, Joker came walking in as if nothing had changed over the past few years. The relief in seeing a familiar face was beyond palpable as she couldn't help but smile when she saw him. Joker had shown him the Normandy which had been rebuilt by Cerberus for Shepard 's mission. They really did go all out on getting her back. Not only did they rebuild the ship but they had dumped billions of credits on reviving her. Shepard really didn't trust them but she knew what was really out there and from the sounds of it, these past two years had only given the Reapers more time to prepare for the upcoming war.

Whole Colonies had gone up disappearing, and no one knew who was taking them. Shepard only promised the Illusive Man one mission and after that they would see where they went. Right now all Sheppard wanted was a terminal in her private quarters so she could research everything that she had missed. Her mind was already working on the mission at hand and she was grateful for the life threatening situation since it meant she didn't have the time to dwell on what she was or what had happened to her. She could still remember how it felt to have her lungs tear inside her body and how the heat of re-entry had burned away everything before she finally passed out. Just the thought of it had her shudder. All she wanted to do was ignore that it had happened but it was hard to do that when you had enraged red scars on your skin that glowed with the cybernetics that had brought you back and was still putting you back together.

Everything in her wanted to contact her old crew, she wanted the security of her old friends watching her back not Miranda and Jacob but she knew she would never make the call. Until she did her research, she didn't want to contact anyone. Officially she was still dead and two years have passed where they had all moved on, or at least she hoped they had moved on. While she felt alone, she didn't want to call her crew back into another dangerous mission after she had just watched her last ship blow up from space. Maybe she would check on her old crew first, to see that they were all safe as Jacob had alluded and then research the Collectors and preparations that apparently hadn't happened since she had died. But before all that she had Freedom's Progress, the latest colony to be hit. At least there she could get firsthand information on just what was taking the colonists.


	3. Chapter 3: Fated Meetings

**Disclaimer:** As always, I do not own Mass Effect or any of it's characters.

**Author's Note**: Alright, writing is going along smoothly so I'll go ahead and post up this next chapter. I plan on posting weekly at the least but when writing is going excessively crazy as it is now, don't be surprised to see multiple chapters in one week.

* * *

Shepard sat with her head resting between her hands as she sat at her desk in her quarters aboard the Normandy. Her short red hair fell forward as she took a deep breath and finally leaned her head back to glance at the terminal in front of her. Freedom's Progress had been one giant ball of confusion. It brought up more questions than it answered. There was a new race called the Collectors that seemed to be abducting all of these colonists under Reaper guidance. The little information Cerberus had was flashing on the screen in front of her, having been sent by the Illusive Man since they reported back in. But that wasn't the only thing plaguing Shepard's mind.

While at the abandoned colony they had run into Tali, a quarian that had been on her crew before she had…well died. At first Shepard had been ecstatic to see her old friend but her excitement had immediately died when she saw how wary the quarian had been toward her. While Tali had convinced her crew to not shoot Shepard on sight because she was with Cerberus crew members, she hadn't been as welcoming as she normally was. While Shepard wasn't the biggest hugger in the world Tali had never resisted the physical contact, or at least as physical as you could be with an exo suit. Shepard had thought of Tali as a close friend, seeing her like she would a younger sister, and the iciness that had formed between them had stung. Shepard's green eyes focused on her reflection in the screen as the long red cybernetic scar glowed in the darkness. No wonder Tali was wary, she looked like the modern day Frankenstein and she was certain the Cerberus emblem she couldn't scratch off her armor wasn't helping.

Shepard sighed as she tucked her hands behind her neck and stared at the terminal. The Collectors really were a wild goose chase with the lack of information they had on them but the evidence was very apparent that they did exists, especially with Veector's recording of them from Freedom's Progress. She didn't even have to ask the question to know that the Council and thus the Alliance wouldn't support further investigation into the matter. As soon as Shepard had bit the dust the Council had immediately discarded her claims on the Reapers despite her direct communication with one. There was no way they would suddenly go back on what they had said to now support her. So that left her stuck with Cerberus, as much as she hated the idea of reporting in to the Illusive Man it was the only way she could try and get more evidence to persuade the populace of the danger that was coming.

Reaching out she typed in a few queries and she started scanning over information on her old crew. While Tali's response to finding Shepard alive hadn't been the most positive of experiences, she still had to know how everyone else was doing. With what happened with Tali she knew that she wouldn't be contacting any of her old crew. While she liked all of them and she had once daily walked the ship to talk to each of them, none of them were as close to her as Tali had been except possibly Garrus. Kaiden had been a good soldier but he had always seemed to idealize her as a symbol instead of the human she was, and his advances on her had put her on edge more than a few times. Wrex was a krogan to his core and she had to admit that she felt a little bit of her own personality would light up when dealing with the krogan but they weren't known for their social skills. Tali had been an awkward tech that was very bright and childish almost at the same time. Shepard had grown attached to her as someone she needed to take care of and keep out of trouble. Garrus was completely different than the rest. While they hadn't immediately hit it off, eventually it seemed that Garrus had grown to trust her and she him. He had always watched her back and their playful banter on the battlefield had always made life fun. Man had they gone through some great fights together. Just thinking on the old days with Garrus made her smile. He had been the easiest one to talk to and she had greatly enjoyed his company. Before she knew it her fingers had typed his name into the search bar.

Shepard's brows knitted together as she read what was on the screen. Not long after her death Garrus had quit the Spectre Training Program and had gone off the map. No one knew where he was now and that was saying something since she was currently using Cerberus' data. Leaning back in her chair she put a finger to her chin as she thought on this. What had happened to Garrus? Did he go back to Palaven? Was he in trouble? Was he even alive? Her questions started taking a dark turn and she had to shake her head and rub her eyes with her fingers. No, Garrus was the best sniper out there he couldn't be in trouble, he was smarter than that.

Sighing Shepard switched over to the dossiers the Illusive Man had given her to look in on for coming up with a new crew. She had to admit she was surprised that most of these files were of aliens and not just humans. Positive this was a ploy to get Shepard to drop her guards with Cerberus she didn't take it too seriously. It looked like two of them were on Omega, one being a scientist that she hoped would help in studying the Collectors and the other a vigilant called Archangel. Considering the key here was gathering as much information on the Collectors as they could, the scientist Mordin was the most logical choice above the biotic in prison and the krogan warlord. Archangel would just be a nice pick up while they were there. Shepard hit the intercom and called in to the cockpit. "Hey Joker, fire up the engines. We're visiting Omega."

It was always lovely when you were face to face with someone you had to just grin and bare it so that you could get information you needed. Aria T'Loak was just one of those people that just loved to get under Shepard's skin. While the asari didn't outright threaten Shepard, she could see through her puffer fish routine to see that Aria was a woman with brains and the mercs to back her up. While Shepard was fairly certain she could take on Aria and her band of mercs she also knew she didn't need to add to her list of enemies and since Aria seemed willing to talk as long as Shepard played nice, Shepard could keep on the paragon routine.

Upon further investigation and simple prodding, Shepard found that Mordin, the salarian scientist, was down in the quarantine zones trying to work up a cure while Archangel was gearing up to a massive head to head with the Blue Suns, Eclipse **_and_** Blood Pack. Excusing herself from Aria's company Miranda, and Jacob followed Shepard through the club.

"So what's the plan commander?" Jacob asked over the heavy beat of the music.

"Well considering Archangel is about to do the tango against the terrible threes, I think the old doc can survive the turian plague for a day. If we're going to get this Archangel guy out alive we might need to head over there while we still have the chance."

"Aye, aye Commander." Jacob said as the three of them entered the room Aria had directed them to sign up for the merc mission. Once they were accepted as mercenaries for the raid on Archangel and Sheppard broke a gun from a kid trying to play criminal, the three headed to the shuttle. The mercenaries weren't all that bright, she hadn't thought it would be that easy to enter the mercenaries' base of operations but apparently they were all hell bent on getting this guy.

"Man, I've never seen all three of these mercenary bands come together for one mission." Jacob said with a whistle as they walked around the thrown together base.

"Give anyone the right amount of push and you can get the greatest enemies to work together for at least one day." Miranda retorted.

Shepard just eyed the area as she catalogued everything that would eventually be coming their way once they got to Archangel. Taking her time to fully scout the area and probe for information on the operation she finally came upon Sergeant Cathka who was to give them their orders. Shepard had to say she was getting a little antsy. Everything she heard about Archangel had her thinking of someone and she couldn't help but feel a small amount of hope and dread bubble in her chest. As she talked with Cathka the signal came in to begin the attack and the Sergeant went back to repair the gunship for the fight. Taking the opportunity Shepard put the man down, effectively hindering the ability for the gunship to get itself repaired. While some people might have thought that taking a welder to someone was a bit cruel, Shepard knew that if she didn't that ship would just be the next thing she would have to blow out of the sky.

Hoping over the barricade she faced down the bridge where Archangel was held up in his sniper's nest. A freelanced mercenary's head five feet in front of her suddenly exploded in crimson and Shepard couldn't help but feel the tug of a smile on her lips. She could hear Jacob commenting on what a shot that was but all she could hear was the pounding of her heart as hope continued to fill. Instead of taking it slow she took long steady strides forward as she pulled out her pistol and popped the two mercenaries directly in front of her. Before the rest could recognize what was happening she ordered her combat drone to take down another merc and Jacob used his biotic pull to disrupt the fourth. It was obvious the Cerberus operatives were nervous as they tried to keep up with Shepard's pace but she was on a mission and she'd be damned if she'd let them slow her down. A sniper shot snapped out her shields as it fizzled at her shoulder and her green eyes snapped up to the sniper's nest. "Oi, bug brain, next time aim for the head!" she shouted dismissing him with an angry wave. She thought she saw a familiar gesture returned to her before another shot whizzed by her head to take out two mercs behind her in one shot. Shepard's lips expanded into a full smile. "Man, that sniper might even be better than your old one." Jacob commented as he stared down at the two dead mercenaries. Still smiling and watching the sniper she responded, "Not on your life," as she started sprinting forward.


	4. Chapter 4: Rough Beginnings

**Disclaimer:** As always, I do not own Mass Effect or any of it's characters.

**Author's Note**: up with another chapter, enjoy!

* * *

Garrus had been hunkered down in his sniper's nest for almost two days. If he thought it had been hell living before, this must be special place reserved for the truly depraved. Everything had been taken from him and finally reality had beaten the fight right out of him. Garrus leaned against the wall in his seated position and briefly closed his eyes and he breathed in deep. How in the hell had he let everything go so wrong? Sure it was slightly entertaining to see the three biggest mercenary groups come together on his behalf, but how had he allowed others to get involved in this? His closed eyes played the scene over and over again as if it was his own personal horror flick.

A gun fired and that brought him back to what was at hand. "Looks like break time is over" he mused to himself as he peaked over the half wall to get a read on what was coming over the bridge this time. Popping up he shot three consecutive shots in a row and watched three mercenaries go down before he ducked back in cover. He was well stocked in ammunition and knew his body would give out long before he would have need for a new thermal clip. Checking for the next wave and downing another LOKI Mech he almost shouted 'Scratch one' until he realized he had no one to yell it to. Back in the day his shout would be followed by a 'Keep up with my two' from the female ducking behind cover across from him. Garrus' blue eyes stared at the empty cover as if he could see her there with her red hair and shining green eyes that glittered at the sight of a fight.

Damn, and here he thought he had finally gotten over the fact that Shepard was no longer going to taunt him across the battlefield. Garrus banged his head back against the wall as he tried to shut out the illusion of Shepard there with him. "Get a hold of yourself turian." He said to himself as he heard commotion behind him. Aiming for the next round he took down a new mercenary and readied for the next when a flash of red went across his scope.

Garrus froze as he looked out of his scope and then back at the image. "Wow, I really am screwed. I'm seeing her as flesh now." Garrus muttered to himself in astonishment, his mandibles clicking nervously. She moved with the grace and fluidity that the Shepard he knew moved through the battlefield. Her mixture of weapon handling and tech abilities lethally wiped out everyone in her path. "It can't be her…" he thought to himself and he did the one thing that would prove his insanity as he loaded a concussion shot and pegged her in the shoulder.

Those vibrant green eyes snapped up at him and he could almost feel her gaze through the scope and as her voice shouted up at him Garrus couldn't stop the laughter from bubbling up in him. She waved a angry hand at him that he had seen more than once when he had annoyed her and he couldn't help but respond with a cock of the head and a half salute like old times. He could see her grin through the scope as he moved his attention from her to the mercs behind her.

That was all she needed, she was taking off in a sprint directly towards him trusting him to take down everyone in her path, something he didn't let her down on. The two behind her gave him a moment of pause as he caught the Cerberus symbol on their uniforms but since she was allowing them at her back he didn't put a bullet through their head.

As she made it into the building Garrus tried to gather his sense of mind back again as his heart raced. It was really her, Shepard, his Commander. Her smell hit him like a freight train as he heard her hit the stairs behind him. He didn't need to look to know that scent, he had memorized it years ago when she wasn't a ghost. His hand wavered as he feared turning around and finding that he really had lost it and this was the end of him. When she reached the room he was in he held up a hand to hold her back a moment as he used the excuse of one last mercenary to try and catch his racing brain before turning to her.

Pulling the trigger the last of the wave went down and Garrus finally stood only to find that his sitting in the same position for days had taken his toll. Instead of standing up fully he leaned on his gun and sat back on some crates. He took off his helmet as he propped a leg up. "Shepard." He stated in as calm a voice as he could. Shepard's smooth features broke into a smile as she flung open her arms and launched herself into him. "Garrus! What are you doing here?" she asked as she hugged him. Garrus was taken aback by the sudden show of affection as the hand that wasn't holding his sniper to his side automatically caught Shepard and awkwardly patted her back. Her earthy scent wafted around him and he felt like he was getting drunk off of it before she pulled back, a little too soon for his taste. His hand was still on her arm as she stared at him and he at her. She was real, he could feel her beneath his talons. "What are **_you_** doing here? You were dead." He retorted still staring at her.

"It's a long story, which I would love to tell you some time when we don't have people shooting at us." She said leaning back and placing a hand on her hip as he finally let his hand drop.

"And that is never," Garrus retorted which earned him a laugh. She laughed, really laughed, and that musical chord moved straight through him. This was like a strange dream.

"Seriously Garrus, how did you end up with all these mercs breathing down your neck?" She asked starting to sound serious.

"It wasn't easy. I really had to work at it. I am amazed that they teamed up to fight me. They must really hate me."

Shepard looked out on the bridge. "Well, it was easy enough to get in but I'm assuming it's not so easy to get out. What was the plan?" she asked as she looked to him expectantly. Garrus had to hide the grimace coming on. He had just been about to give up, to go out in one final stand but that was not an option anymore. There was no way he would allow Shepard to go down with him.

"It won't be easy. The bridge has saved my life.. funneling all those witless idiots into scope. But it works both ways. They'll slaughter us if we try to get out that way."

"So we just sit here and wait for them to take us out?" The female Cerberus operative asked sarcastically which made Garrus bite down a growl.

"It's not all that bad." He started, taking the lighter route as oppose to the tear-your-face-off route. "This place has held them off so far. And with the three of you…I suggest we hold this location, wait for the crack in their defenses, and take our chances. It's not a perfect plan, but it's a plan."

"How did you let yourself get in the position? You're not one to let someone corner you." Shepard said looking Garrus over. Garrus had to try not to fidget as she observed him, wondering if she could see his beaten down mentality.

"My feelings got in the way of my better judgment. It's a long story. I'll make you a deal, you get me out of here alive and I'll tell you the whole damn story."

"Looks like we'll have a lovely bedtime stories tonight." Shepard said with a grin as she leaned her sniper on her shoulder and cocked a hip. "But now is the time for the fun, just like old times right Garrus?"

"Right." He responded with a grin of his own, the first he had naturally in a long time.

Both Shepard and Garrus checked on what the mercenaries were doing through their scopes and after Shepard downed an incoming LOKI mech they started their fight to take out the next wave of mercenaries. Miranda and Jacob found cover and started raining down fire on the incoming mercs. Shepard noticed that they were starting to send out Blue Sun, Eclipse, and Blood Pack members now. "Guess they ran out of the freelancers." She thought to herself as she sent her drone to stall a heavy mech. Shepard's eyes glanced over at Garrus as he popped out of cover to down the next set of mercenaries.

Fighting wise they had immediately fallen into the rhythm of alternating gun fire. But something was missing. When the heavy mech finally blew up and she happily shouted a ' hell yeah.' It was then that she realized what was missing, he wasn't sprouting his usual taunts and calls. In fact despite the random chuckle in response to her own shouts, he was silent. His whole demeanor was different and she felt like she could even see the weight of something laying heavy on his shoulders. She wanted to ask him about it but a shot bouncing off the wall right next to her head had her cursing instead and firing off three more rounds.

"Watch yourself Shepard or you'll be down on your back again." Garrus warned with a slight edge to his voice that she couldn't tell if it was a joke or out of sarcasm.

"Well the ceiling _is_ really interesting today.. Maybe I'll let you have fun with the rest of these guys." Shepard looked up at the cracked and broken ceiling.

"Isn't that the norm?" Garrus retorted as his blue eyes glanced over at her when he ducked back into cover. Shepard returned the smirk she saw on his face, glad that at least he could still joke with her. That was when an explosion rocked the ground they stood on.

"What the hell was that?" Jacob exclaimed as he peaked out of cover.

"That explosion felt like it was below us." Miranda called out as she moved to the other end of the room to check the stairs.

Garrus looked at his omni-tool and cursed. "Damn it, they breached the lower level. Well they had to use their brains eventually. You'd better get down there Shepard, I'll keep the bridge clear." When Garrus looked to her Shepard tried to quickly run through her options. While she didn't doubt that Garrus could hold the bridge on his own, she was concerned about leaving him there without back up especially with the exhaustion she saw in him. He was defiantly putting on a good mask to hide that exhaustion but she knew him better.

"Miranda, Jacob, show me what you've got and shore up those defenses down there." Shepard commanded.

"Aye, Commander." Came the immediate response as they took off down the stairs. Sheppard went to steal some of Garrus' thermal clips while they had a breather between waves. She felt Garrus' gaze on her so she straightened and turned to look at him.

"Do you not trust me to hold the bridge?" he asked, his words probably coming out harsher than he meant.

"Not at all, I would just rather you not get yourself hurt in the process. Your cross hairs have always gotten the job done but not always with you keeping all your blue goop." Shepard explained simply.

"That's saying something coming from you." Garrus huffed as he moved to her side and reached around her to grab his own ammunition. His arm brushed against hers for a brief moment and his body was only a foot away from her which forced her to look up. She could feel his body heat and for some reason the proximity had electricity sparking through her mind.

"Even so," she started as she side stepped him and leaned on a pillar to peak out at the bridge. "You can't tell me that you are 100% here right now." Garrus stiffened and Shepard quickly added more before he could bristle. "You're exhausted Garrus. I can tell it from the way you move and the weariness in your eyes. I want to know why you are this way but I also understand that it's not my place to force it out of you, nor is it the time. Just take the help and cheer your sorry ass up. What happened to that warrior spirit you used to have? I haven't heard you gloat once this whole fight."

Garrus looked away but Shepard wouldn't have any of that. In three steps she was in front of him and she pulled on his armor so that his face was inches from her face. "Don't pull that with me Vakarian, I won't accept you withdrawing from me too." Garrus' brow plates furrowed together. "Too?" he asked. Sheppard threw up her hands in aggravation. "Whatever! You don't want to admit anything then fine, get your blue ass back in cover and prepare to hold the bridge." Catching her hand before she could pick her sniper back up Garrus spun her around. Being caught off guard her legs tangled up on the turn and she fell into his chest. "Look..I..I just need some time. I haven't had the time to really think on it and now you…you're just-" Garrus stopped to try and gather something together. "I can't talk about it now.." was all he said.

Shepard's eyes moved between his blue orbs. He looked so defeated, so vulnerable. She wanted to do something to help. Reaching up she traced a hand lightly down one of his mandibles. "Garrus…you used to be able to tell me anything." She said hoping she could at least take this burden from him. He looked like he was about to lean into her touch but he pulled back. "As you said, it is not the time or the place." Shepard watched as he made his way back to their cover and shot off a few rounds at a few stray mechs. Sighing she followed as she rolled her neck to get out a few cricks. "That had been another time and another place." She thought to herself as she readied her sniper. It looked like that respect they had in the past wasn't fully there anymore. "You were gone for two years Shepard. You can't expect to just jump right back into the swing of things like those two years hadn't happened. For them, you were dead." Shepard sighed as she leaned her head back against the wall before gathering herself together and picking up where she had stopped off.

Miranda and Jacob came back successful, and even brought back a few things they found along the way. Shepard had to stop giving the two of them guff for being Cerberus, they really were good soldiers. Trying to take the extra step in being nice she tossed Miranda a few thermal clips saying, "Take a few of those mercs out for me." Her normal, "Of course Shepard," barely rubbed Shepard the wrong way this time. "Jacob, those Blood Packs are getting past our line." Shepard warned. That was when the Gunship dropped in. The group cursed collectively.

"I thought we took that thing out." Jacob called out as he dove into different cover since the gunship was on their left.

"Yeah well I've always been lucky this way." Shepard grumbled as she used incineration on a merc dropping from the ship. "Just kill these fuckers and whittle down its armor." The other three immediately responded with a "Aye Commander." As they all turned their attention to the mercs dropping from the ship and the gunship that kept flying in and out.

"They're grappeling down." Someone called out and Shepard immediately ran off to the stairs. There were mercenaries swarming the lower level so Shepard just kept constant pressure and utilized her drone to drop some of the harder to reach enemies. Shots exploded all over her cover and Shepard cursed as she leaned back against the pillar.

"Commander are you ok?" Miranda called out as she moved to the door looking like she was about to come help.

"I'm fine, keep fire on that gun ship." Shepard called out as she threw an incineration at a Blue Suns merc. The lower floors were just about cleaned out when the noise of the Gunship overpowered anything else and Shepard noted it was now in a different area.

"Archangel!" Jacob shouted out and Shepard felt a chill run up her spine as she heard the machine gun go off from the Gunship. Tarak was yelling something but all Shepard heard was the painful yell of Garrus. That was all it took to getting her sprinting back to the snipers nest. "Garrus!" Shepard shouted as she cleared the door and slid into cover only to see Garrus getting blown out of cover and skidding a few feet from her.

"Holy shit!" Jacob cursed as he tried to fire at the gun ship. All Shepard could see was the blue spreading around Garrus.

"Jacob, Miranda. Keep that Gunship busy." Shepard ordered as she pulled out her rocket launcher. Standing up from cover she aimed her cross hairs at the cockpit. "You're right Tarak, this is over." She growled between clenched teeth. Immediately she fired off all four rockets each exploding on the cockpit one right after the other. The glass broke and the ship exploded but Shepard didn't watch the fireworks.

Dropping her empty rocket launcher and skidding next to Garrus she check to see if he was alive. "Garrus! Garrus, get up you lazy son of a bitch!" Shepard yelled at him as she tried to find the worst wound and treat it with medi-gel. "Damn it Garrus, wake up!" Shepard slammed her free fist into the ground, feeling finger bones break under the force. Garrus gasped out a breath as his eyes snapped open. "Garrus!" Shepard breathed in relief and fear. "We're getting you out of here Garrus. Just hold on." Garrus gasped and coughed blood as he grasped for his rifle. Shepard slid it closer to his grasping hands and placed her free hand over his. "Miranda, radio Joker. Make sure they're ready for us." Shepard ordered finally wrenching her eyes from Garrus. As Miranda called for the shuttle and notify Dr. Chakwas Shepard kept the medi-gel pumping into his system. "I don't think he's going to make it." Jacob said and Shepard couldn't stop herself from turning and slugging the man directly in the chin with an upper cut. "Don't you dare say that! Get that shuttle here now and get him aboard!" she shouted, fury coloring her vision.

The last thing Garrus saw before blacking out was Jacob flat on his ass and Shepard looming over him with all the fire in the world. She was the god of war incarnate and she was currently pissed as hell.


	5. Chapter 5: Trepidation

**Title: **The Unfortunate Situation

**Rating:** M- _for safety_ (suggested violence, adult themes, and occasional language)

**Characters:** FemShepardxGarrus

**Summary/Warning: **Story starts as the beginning of Mass Effect 2 so needless to say if you have not played the Mass Effect series, spoilers will ensue. Most of this story will be told from moments between missions instead of fully re-doing all of Mass Effect 2 and possibly 3 (although if I do go that far their might be _some_ changes at the end of Mass Effect 3's story line...just saying)

**Disclaimer:** As always, I do not own Mass Effect or any of it's characters.

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the long in between but now that work's died down to a null, nothing shall stand in my way of writing D

* * *

Garrus could hear shouting over the ringing in his ears. It took him awhile before he recognized the voice as Dr. Chakwas and Commander Shepard. "Don't you dare think of kicking me out Doc. Stop wasting your time and get to work on him, I won't get in your way."

"Shepard, I've done this before with you and you nearly killed my last two assistants when I had to break one of Garrus' bones so that it would set properly." Chakwas said with exasperation.

"And I'll bloody dismantle these two new ones if they think they can drag me out of here!" Shepard yelled and he thought he heard something get thrown across the room. Garrus growled as he started to feel all the pain of what he had been through.

"Doctor, I think he's waking up." Someone said.

"Well put him back out! Don't be imbecilic. He doesn't need to suffer through this pain!" Chakwas countered as Garrus felt the pinch of a needle. The last thing he heard was Chakwas threatening to sedate the Commander if she didn't get out of her sick bay.

Shepard was ill with worry as she paced the comm room. She had just finished with another lovely chat with the Illusive Man and Jacob had started to report in on their mission.

"We've done all we could for him but he took a bad hit." Jacob started. Shepard had to keep from destroying the comm room at the words but she just gripped the metal in front of her until she felt the pain from her broken fingers overpower the panic she felt in her gut. "The docs corrected with surgical procedures and some cybernetics. Best we can tell, he'll have full functionality but.."

Shepard was just about to punch Jacob again when the comm doors opened and Garrus came walking through. "Shepard." He said as if he hadn't taken a rocket to the face.

"Tough son of a bitch. Didn't think he'd be up yet." Jacob said not knowing how close the bruise forming on his chin was just about to get a twin if Garrus hadn't interrupted. Shepard was just stuck there dumbfounded by the relief she felt. She wanted to just collapse on the floor out of relief but instead she just stood there as Garrus moved toward her.

"They wouldn't give me a mirror, how bad is it?"

Shepard crossed her arms and cocked a hip as her kickback. "Hell Garrus, you were always ugly. Slap some face-paint on there, and no one will even notice."

Garrus laughed but the laugh was cut short by a wince of pain. "Don't make me laugh, damn it. My face is barely holding up as it is." Garrus rubbed a hand on his chin lightly. "Some women find scars attractive. Mind you, most of those women are krogan." Shepard just shook her head. Jacob saluted Sheppard and proceeded to excuse himself from the room. Garrus just stayed quiet until he was gone.

"How does it really feel?" Shepard asked first. She had to keep herself from going over there to him and trace her hand over the side of his face.

"Like it was put through the meat grinder but I've dealt with worse, no big deal." Shepard shook her head as she let her chin drop.

"You gave us quiet the scare." She said softly as her fingers dug into the metal again. This time she couldn't hide the wince and Garrus caught it. He moved over to her and took her hands into his. It didn't take him long to find the break as she sucked in a breath from his light touch. "Stubborn human, you're one to talk. Go get this looked at." He growled at her. She wrenched her hand from his grasp only to stifle down another curse. She put her hands behind her back to hide them from view. "I was kind of hoping to let the Docs take care of a suicidal turian first." Shepard retorted with a glare that had no heat in it.

"Well which one of us has actually been dead, oh wait that would be you." Garrus pointed out. "Frankly, I'm more worried about you. What in the world are you doing with Cerberus?" Sighing she explained about her revival and the Collectors.

"They're currently a necessary evil. We both know the alliance wouldn't put even half of these resources into investigating the Collectors" Shepard concluded.

Garrus hummed his acknowledgement as he thought the information over. "Well I'm fit for duty any time you need me Shepard. I'll settle in and see what I can do to the forward batteries. And get that hand looked at so I don't have to drag you to sick bay." Garrus turned to leave but stopped at the door. "I am glad they brought you back Commander." Shepard could only smile at him as he walked out. In truth she wasn't sure what she felt about being brought back. She felt wrong, like this wasn't really her body. It kept creeping her out each time she looked in the mirror and saw the red scars. It was like she could feel the cybernetics working in her and it was slightly driving her insane. Shepard ran a hand through her hair and she realized that even that was different. Before she had long wavy locks of red hair but now she had a short thin bob. Apparently her hair hadn't healed just as much as her skin hadn't. Each beat of her heart reminded her that there had been a time where her lungs had quit supplying oxygen to her brain. The pain reflected through her in a brief flash and Shepard had to keep from hyperventilating.

Logic had always been a good companion to her but it was currently failing her situation. She knew that she would deal with some form of psychosis from the trauma of dying but what she couldn't get was why she couldn't just get past this. She understood all the science involved in bringing her back, and her mind kept telling her that she really couldn't see the cybernetics glowing red in her eyes but she did. At night she felt like her skin was crawling and when she wasn't thinking about Cerberus hacking her body like she could a mech then she was thinking of the moments before her death. Needless to say she wasn't getting much sleep. Her mind couldn't rest and she kept on excusing it off on being asleep for two years but she knew that eventually this would bite her in the butt. She would have to deal with this eventually, at least she told herself she would after she researched the Alliance's movements over the past two years.

It was slightly unsettling to be on the Normandy again. Don't get him wrong, it was nice to have it back but the signs of Cerberus involvement layered every bulk head. It hadn't taken Garrus long to find the bugs in place around the main battery and if they were there then they were most likely all over the ship. Garrus wasn't as good as Tali in finding all of these bugs but that was the first thing he got to work on, even skipping the first night of sleep out of paranoia.

It wasn't even two hours into the next day when he heard someone moving at the kitchen counter. Turians had good hearing and he could pretty much hear everything on the crew quarters but he hadn't been expecting someone to be up at this hour. The scent took longer to reach him but he recognized it immediately. Crushing the last bug he found under his foot he moved to exit the main battery.

"What are you still doing up Commander?" Garrus asked as he walked down the plank toward the kitchen counter. Shepard jumped slightly at the sound but that light smile she always wore was in place when she turned from the coffee maker to look to Garrus. He had to keep himself moving instead of pausing to gawk as he realized he had given up on hope to ever see this sight again.

"Do you want me to make you some as well?" she asked as she took her coffee and prepared to grab a dextro-based packet of coffee.

"Why not, it doesn't seem that either one of us are going to sleep this night. So what's keeping you up?" Garrus asked as he leaned on the counter across from her. His blue eyes ran over her as she moved to start the next cup of coffee. Her movements were stiff. If he guessed he figured she had been on a terminal for the past hours, especially when she rubbed her eyes.

"I've apparently been sleeping for two years. I have to catch up on everything I've missed." The coffee maker beeped to conclude its work and Shepard handed him his cup. With a nod in thanks he took a sip. He couldn't imagine how it would feel to be dead and then suddenly thrown back into life two years later. "How are you feeling Shepard, really? All of this can't be easy."

"I should be asking you that, you just hop right on board for another crazy expedition with Commander Shepard." Shepard said with a weary smile but luckily she elaborated without him prompting. "It's not easy. You wake up and for you everything was just last week but for everyone else it was two years ago, still trying to figure out how to get over that. No one is the same, and the time has messed up almost everything I did." There seemed to be something else she had been about to add but she closed her mouth and took a sip of coffee instead.

Garrus hummed his acceptance. "I've got to say, it's still odd walking out here and you're just..there. I've spent two years telling myself that you were dead and now you're just back." Garrus said honestly. Shepard tilted her head as she studied a spot on the ground as she thought. "I feel like things just would've been better if they hadn't brought me back." She said after a long pause. Something filled up in his chest at that softly spoken phrase and anger flared. Moving closer to her he placed one hand on the counter beside her and leaned in to glare into her green eyes. "Don't you ever say that Shepard." He gritted out. "It's a damn miracle that they brought you back, don't you dare squander it."

Her eyes were wide in surprise at the sudden flash of fury but that smile tilted the corner of those lips again. "Alright, sorry. Thanks for breaking that silly pity party I hadn't realized I'd hosted." Shepard's hand came up to pat his shoulder so he could calm down and back up. Garrus huffed in acknowledgement and leaned back. He was slightly embarrassed by the sudden emotional outburst but Shepard had let it slide and he wasn't about to question it.

"So how is that Cerberus operative holding up that you knocked on his ass when I got hit with a rocket?" Garrus asked, changing the subject onto lighter terms. He thought he saw a blush darken her cheeks but it was gone as soon as it had come. The only hint of her embarrassment was the quickening of her heart beat which he could hear even from there. "He'll be fine. I should apologize. I was really wanting to hit you for being dumb enough to get hit by a giant Gunship."

"I'd like to see you do better with that thing flanking us like it did." Garrus retorted mumbling into his coffee.

"Please, I could beat you with my hands tied behind my back." Shepard teased.

Garrus raised a brow plate. "Really now, is that a challenge."

Shepard smirked at Garrus, a light of fire sparking in her green orbs. "Why not, it doesn't seem we have anything better to do."

"You just don't have any imagination. I can think of a few other things we could do but I must say taking your ego down a few notches is an interesting notion." Garrus said as he moved to put up his coffee, his shoulder brushing against hers.  
"Alright bird brain, meet me down in the hanger in five."

"Don't make me wait too long." Garrus called out to her retreating back. He watched her leave and he didn't realize that his chest was rumbling in anticipation until the silence returned. This was exactly what he needed. This would calm his nerves and help further prove the fact that Shepard was indeed back. He couldn't wait to feel the power of her new formed body pitted against his own. Turning to put on more appropriate clothes for sparing he let the humming continue to rumble deep in his chest.


End file.
